Lord of Prayer - Chapter 315 - 214: List of Audition Winners

An invitation to the main event of the Sword Forging Competition?

Zhou Chen was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected it to actually take third place.

He took out his phone and opened the Forging Association app. In his account, he had received several official congratulatory messages.

[Congratulations, Mr. Zhou Chen. You have achieved third place in the preliminary qualifiers. Please fill in your detailed information within twenty-four hours to avoid affecting your participation in the main event.]

Zhou Chen clicked the link below the message and filled in the information one by one. The last item was an alias for the main event—a unique and eye-catching title would make him more recognizable and boost his fame and popularity.

He thought for a moment and filled in “Joyful Sawman.”

After clicking submit, Zhou Chen went to the communication center to browse the forums.

[STICKY! The preliminary stage of the Sword Forging Competition has concluded. The list of winners will be announced tomorrow at 12:00 PM. Stay tuned!]

[A bit of a surprise. Just got home, opened my phone, and saw the news. My piece got 32nd place. I’m in a good mood, so I’m here to give away some money.]

[Holy crap! I hear the main event is full of pros this time. Anyone wanna team up? This newbie is trembling in fear.]

[Tutorial thread. Bros, come on in and let’s talk details.]

[I’ll post contestants from the last Sword Forging Competition, you rate them.]

After scrolling through the posts for a while, Zhou Chen scratched his head. ’I have to ask Jiang Che for time off again…’

The Sword Forging Competition was a grand tournament in the Forging Realm—an unmissable event for any Blacksmith, boasting the highest honor, the greatest value, the most intense level of competition, and the widest recognition.

Generous rewards, opportunities for Advancement, incomparable popularity…

As long as one had even slightly exceptional skill, they could quickly attract a great deal of attention and make a name for themselves.

There were many cases in the competition’s history—Blacksmiths whose businesses were so bleak they were about to go under joined the Sword Forging Competition. Although they didn’t place very high in the end, a single brilliant performance was enough to make their name and their workshop’s name remembered. Afterward, with some business savvy, their desolate workshops quickly became booming successes, and they made a fortune.

In reality, Zhou Chen wasn’t short on money right now.

Sixty years ago, he had deposited one hundred thousand US Dollars in the World Bank as a fixed-term deposit to collect interest. Later, he also deposited one hundred million Eastern Continent currency. However, that money was actually meant for Li Xiye as start-up capital. Now, sixty years had passed, and the balance in the account had multiplied like crazy. The number of zeros in the balance was enough to make Zhou Chen dizzy—five hundred million!

US Dollars, at that!

A portion of this much money must have been deposited by Li Xiye later on. It seemed she had now left it all to him.

Five hundred million US Dollars was enough for several generations to live without worry. Even for an Ascender, as long as they didn’t do something stupid like playing the stock market, it would last a very, very long time.

But Zhou Chen had two extremely expensive identities: a Blacksmith and an Alchemist.

Just the Extraordinary Materials for building the Forging Melting Furnace had cost him over fifty million, but thankfully, it was worth the price in the end.

Although he had a lot of money now, it would eventually run out one day. He had to plan for the future.

Besides, he was actually very much looking forward to crossing paths with those top-tier Blacksmiths, witnessing the forging techniques passed down by other masters, and testing his own skills against them.

After hesitating for a moment, feeling apprehensive and nervous, Zhou Chen sent Jiang Che a message asking for time off.

It was the middle of the night, but Jiang Che wasn’t asleep yet. After reading the message, she sent a bloody cleaver emoji.

Zhou Chen quickly sent back a sticker of someone kowtowing in full prostration.

After a brief pause, Jiang Che typed, “Leave approved. But for the next few days, you must clock in and out on time. No slacking off.”

“Thanks, Sister Jiang. I’ll bring you back a gift.” Zhou Chen sent a sticker of a little kitten holding a rose to express his gratitude.

Jinzhu City Orphanage.

Morning.

After leading the children through their morning exercises and returning to the classroom, Lin Ya looked at her System Panel. Her Wish Value had increased to 0.7.

She was a little puzzled. She hadn’t really done much, just drawn a few pictures with Little Yina in the morning and played Duck, Duck, Goose with Zhang Xiaoxu and the others… ’Huh? Could this also count as fulfilling a wish?’

“Sister Lin, we want to watch Ultraman today,” a little boy’s voice piped up, interrupting Lin Ya’s thoughts.

After the morning exercises, the children had a forty-minute break, during which the orphanage would usually put on a cartoon for them to watch.

“Which Ultraman do you want to watch?” Lin Ya asked.

The classroom instantly descended into chaos:

“I want to watch Seven!”

“I want to watch Taro!”

“I want to watch Tiga!”

“I want to watch Kuuga!”

“What Kuuga? Is Kuuga an Ultraman? Kuuga is obviously a Power Ranger! You fake fan!”

“Everyone, quiet!”

Lin Ya knocked on the teacher’s desk. Her past experiences had left her introverted and with low self-esteem, but after spending so much time at the orphanage, her reserved nature was gradually being changed by these innocent and lively children, making her more and more optimistic and cheerful.

“Raise your hand if you want to watch Seven,” she said.

A few children in the classroom immediately raised their hands.

“Raise your hand if you want to watch Taro.”

A few more children raised their hands.

“Raise your hand if you want to watch Tiga.”

All the remaining children raised their hands in unison, the number completely overwhelming the others.

“Then it looks like we’re watching Tiga. After Tiga is over, we’ll watch Seven and Taro.” Lin Ya picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and started looking for the show.

Just then, she paused and suddenly said, “I’m going to the restroom first. If you can all stay quiet until I get back, I’ll let you watch two episodes.”

“Two episodes?”

“Really?”

“Okay, okay!”

The joy on the children’s faces was plain to see, as if being able to watch one extra episode was the greatest reward imaginable. They instantly quieted down, shutting their mouths and sitting properly. The classroom became silent.

Lin Ya nodded in satisfaction, left to go to the restroom, and deliberately took a little longer to heighten the children’s anticipation.

She remembered Mr. Lamp God saying that the amount of Wish Value was related to the intensity of the wish.

Having been an orphanage teacher for so long, and having been a child herself, she knew very well just how strongly children wanted to watch cartoons and tokusatsu shows.

When enough time had passed, Lin Ya strolled back into the classroom, started playing the tokusatsu show, and reminded them, “Remember to stay quiet while you’re watching.”

Her reminder seemed to have no effect, as the children’s attention was already completely absorbed by the television. They stared wide-eyed and fully focused; even the few who had been clamoring to watch Seven and Taro were now exceptionally engrossed.

Lin Ya looked at her Wish Value and was surprised to find it had shot up directly to 21. The dozens of children had provided an enormous amount of Wish Value.

’Children have pure hearts and minds. Most of the time, their wishes are actually very simple… And the simpler they are, the stronger they are…’ Lin Ya had a realization. It seemed she had found a way to quickly accumulate Wish Value.

’I can share this method with everyone at the next gathering. They’ve shared intel and given me advice before, so I should return the favor.

Mr. Lamp God wants to expand the Round Table Hall, which means he’ll definitely need to bring in new blood. But I don’t know many people, and I don’t have any suitable candidates. I’m afraid I won’t be able to complete the task of recommending new members. Will this make Mr. Lamp God disappointed in me?

…I need to improve my strength and status as quickly as possible so I don’t get phased out. That way, I can also do more for Mr. Lamp God and make Him pay more attention to me.’

Lin Ya set a small goal for herself in her heart: first, save up one hundred Wish Value!

’Wish Value, huh…’

In his room, Colin was pondering how to obtain Wish Value.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. A series of knocks came from the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Shane. The captain called a meeting. I was afraid you hadn’t seen the message on your phone, so I came to tell you.”

“Got it. I’ll be right there.”

An idea suddenly struck Colin. His teammates might be a good source to fleece.

However, he had no intention of sharing this opportunity by recommending his teammates to the Round Table Hall. Doing so would completely erase the advantage his lucky encounter had given him.

Everyone is selfish, especially someone like him who harbored a burning vengeance.

Alchemy Workshop.

Soron absentmindedly flipped through a book. Half a day had passed since he received the Wish Value system, and he had only managed to get 0.3 Wish Value. It was pathetic.

He analyzed his performance. ’My approach is wrong, that’s why there’s a problem. Those people’s wishes are all tiny, which is why they give so little Wish Value. But if I increase the base number of people, even small amounts can pile up into a mountain… Hmm, that gives me an idea. I could try online platforms where there are more people. But what kind of wishes can you help people with online?’

Soron took out his phone and browsed various forums. He soon found a section called a “Request Zone” on a certain dubious website. People there would post help requests, asking the all-powerful netizens to help them find… resources.

’Finding resources seems like a pretty good method. I’ll try it when I have time.’

Soron wracked his brain to expand on the idea. ’Donating on fundraising platforms is another option, but many of them are actually scams. Besides, the platforms themselves are shady. All in all, it’s not a great method…

I’m stuck in the workshop and can’t go out, so my only option is to figure something out online. But after thinking it over, it seems like sharing resources is still the most reliable way.’

He scratched his head. ’Why not give it a try first and see how it goes?’

’Hm? Someone posted faster than me? You again?’

Jinzhu City, inside a villa.

Having nothing better to do, Zhou Chen had gone back online to share resources and farm Wish Value. He froze for a second. This was the fifth time he had seen the user with the ID “Anonymous Hero” reply with a resource link. Their speed was incredible; you could call it high-intensity spamming.

Zhou Chen refreshed the page a few times but found no new help requests. He gave up, closed the forum, and opened the Forging Association app.

At 12:00 PM sharp, the list of winners from the Sword Forging Competition’s preliminaries was announced.

[First Place]: Magnetic Field Lunatic

[Second Place]: My Great Hammer is Already Thirsty

[Third Place]: Joyful Sawman

[Fourth Place]: Brother Long is here

[Fifth Place]: Thanks Piyanzi for the Airplane

“…”

?

A question mark materialized over Zhou Chen’s head.

’Everyone’s just trolling, aren’t they?’